2024 IT Trends and What to Expect in 2025

As we close out February, a lot has changed. People are looking at at uncertain futures coupled with a desire to get back to "normal." Businesses are returning to the office, investments in AI are skyrocketing, and all the while, the tech world is rapidly changing. This can cause a stab of unease in people, and depending on your role these changes will impact you differently. So what's to come? How should you prepare?  Building on our IT update from last year, we're offering some answers.

Here's what we can't do: consult our crystal ball to give you concrete answers on how you will be impacted. The best we can do is consult the almighty Magic 8 Ball...although have you ever doubted its wisdom? 

Here's what we can do: give you a run down of what we noticed in 2024 and (after consulting ye olde Magic 8 and our tech gurus), giving you a forecast of what we expect to see in 2025. 

2024 Tech Trends and their impacts

Cybersecurity Needs Dramatically Increased

One of the dominant themes in 2024 has been the growing sophistication of cyber threats, particularly Business Email Compromise (BEC). While Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) has long been touted as a robust security measure, attackers have found ways to bypass it by stealing MFA tokens. Essentially, this makes Microsoft or any MFA enabled platform approve the sign in without further authentication.

In many cases, these exploits hinge on user errors or manipulated approvals, demonstrating that human behavior remains the weakest link in cybersecurity. Here's your sign, educate your employees—it's a worthy investment that could save you lots of money in the long run. 

Continued Misuse of AI

With the recent increase in interest directly from our nation's capital, not only are we anticipating a continued rise in 2025, but Artificial Intelligence dominated the tech world in 2024.

AI misuse has escalated significantly, particularly in fraud scenarios. For example, voice mimicking technologies have enabled attackers to impersonate CEOs and approve fraudulent fund transfers. These incidents highlight the need for organizations to introduce additional safeguards for high-value transactions, such as requiring approvals from multiple technologies or using separate communication channels.

To be clear, as AI advances, so too will the misuse.

Third-Party Risk Management

As businesses increasingly adopt SaaS-based solutions, dependency on third-party vendors has grown. This year saw notable incidents, such as the CrowdStrike breach, underscoring the risks of over-reliance on external platforms. A disruption in services like Microsoft Azure can have cascading effects across organizations, emphasizing the importance of incident response planning and resilience testing to ensure business continuity.

Tech Company Acquisitions

The acquisition spree among tech companies has also influenced business operations. Organizations often face higher licensing costs or abrupt changes in service delivery as companies prioritize profitability over user needs. For example, enterprises have started exploring alternatives like Hyper-V, AVD, and Nerdio to mitigate the impact of changes stemming from prominent tech company acquisition. On a side note, here's how we avoided those cost increases for one of our customers. 

3 Things to Expect from Technology in 2025

The Quest for Automation

Automation has emerged as a critical focus area, enabling businesses to do more with less. While AI often serves as the backbone for these efforts, automation itself extends beyond AI-driven solutions. Tools like Power Automate and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are helping organizations streamline repetitive tasks, from daily operational activities to complex onboarding processes.

• Business to IT Processes: Automation is transforming both business and IT workflows by building low-code and no-code solutions. These approaches allow organizations to create custom workflows that replace manual, monotonous tasks.
• Cost Efficiency: AI has significantly reduced the barriers to implementing automation, making it more accessible and cost-effective for businesses of all sizes. This democratization of automation technology will drive widespread adoption in 2025.
  
  

Further Evolution of Artificial Intelligence

AI will remain a buzzword, but 2025 will see increased scrutiny around its actual implementation. While many companies will continue using AI as a marketing tool, attackers will leverage AI to launch more sophisticated cyberattacks. Organizations must strike a balance between leveraging AI’s capabilities and understanding its limitations.

• Compute and Storage Challenges: A lot of people don't understand the compute required to spit out those email outlines or graphic requests in 3 seconds flat. In order to produce the quality of work we are daily asking AI to contribute,  the need for better quality data centers will also rise to accommodate the output required. This demand for AI workloads has already strained infrastructure, with incidents like Microsoft’s data center running out of compute capacity.  In short, if Microsoft is having this problem, so will you.
  

Accountability in Cybersecurity Practices

With MFA vulnerabilities becoming evident, cyber insurance companies will focus on holding employees accountable for their actions. For a business's part, education and awareness programs will emphasize secure authentication practices, and user behavior analytics may become a standard part of enterprise security protocols.

• Hackers Will Get Their Money: A big trend in 2025 is more sophisticated ransomware attacks, with an increase in double-extortion tactics where attackers threaten to leak sensitive information unless a ransom is paid. In the past, attackers would just lock you out of your data unless you paid their ransom. Several companies did not have to pay their ransom if they got ransomware, because they had backups and were able to restore their data. The attackers are making sure they get paid now and threatening the reputation of businesses by leaking data if they don't pay their ransom.
• Return from Remote Work: With a return to the office, it is imperative that businesses are considering the accesses they're giving their employees. Consider privileged access for your once remote employees who had compete control of their hardware to decrease cybersecurity incidents as a whole. 
• Cloud Security Needs: Businesses are moving away from on-premise hardware and transitioning to the cloud. However, just because your data is in the cloud doesn't mean it is secure. Make sure you budget appropriately for that need in your cybersecurity posture. 

How to prepare for 2025

Looking back at 2024, it’s clear that the pace of technological change isn’t slowing down. Cyber threats are getting smarter, AI is shaking up industries, and automation is helping businesses do more with less. But with all this progress comes new challenges—from managing risk to ensuring our tools don’t overcomplicate life.

As we step into 2025, the key will be finding balance: embracing innovation without losing sight of practicality, and building systems that are as resilient as they are forward-thinking. The future isn’t just about staying ahead; it’s about making sure the ride is worth the destination...and we're here if you need help with that.